Category Archives: Koi Joy

Annalise, Creative Strength Training, Explore, Fish, Hand work, Koi Joy, Leaf Pile, Machine Drawing, Meandering Mind- Examine, Poem Tree, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Back to the Studio

November 18, 2022 admin

Hello,

I am glad to finally home for after a lot of activity. I am also delighted to say that the little Christmas Cactus cutting that Liz gave me in Aug is blooming. This fall has been a full and exciting time for me.

I went to the opening of the Quilts=Art=Quilts show on the 29 of Oct and it was a delightful show. I was just so happy to be in again and could not believe it when I won the Judges Choice Award for my piece Action. My friend Ellen won Best of show and friend

Pat Pauly won the Finger Lakes Fiber Artist award for Best Embellishment. I was floating on air all the way home and still can’t quite believe it.

There was a Diva meeting at the beginning of November and we added a new member to the group, Denise Cooperman. She is a feltier and I love what she dose.

Barbara also had some wonderful new stuff to share with us. She had a great sale as a part of the Ithaca Art Trail.

Then I went off to a five day Sisterhood of the Scissors retreat. The event the year before involved a lot of “give aways” of raw materials- yarn and beads. So this year we got finished work back. I gave folks cowls and Ann gave us neck scarves. There were also necklaces. We did show and tell as well as lots of work.

Joyce made all three of these dolls and the basket during our time there. She takes the prize for being the most productive.

Ann did hand work all five days and made great progress on this beautiful landscape. I worked on the next three tops of the Meandering Mind Series.

Marcia created a new jacket form some of her Perilla fabric.

Then last weekend I went off to a three day Fall Retreat at the Schweinfurth Art Center. It is such a fun and stimulating event for all of us. Most of the same folks were there again.

Ann had been inspired by what I was doing at the Sisterhood Retreat so she tried it. This is her start.

Sharon was working away on a piece from one of her photos from her late summer trip to Montana.

I think is it a strong piece and I love the high contrast. We sure had fun and I made progress too.

Progress Report: Koi Joy This work is 39″ w X 43.5″ t. This is the last of the koi series I think. I have enjoyed doing them and playing with the metallic fabrics sure has been a learning experience.

They tend to fray out very quickly and I had to do fray check along many edges . There is leather behind the button eyes.

Leaf Pile I am working away on this project and being away from it has helped me see that it needs more color contrast to really build a center of interest. Perhaps a yellow leaf instead of the red one that I have pinned there now. It’s value is too close to the greens.

Meandering Mind Series -Examine This is one of the three tops that I created at the Sisterhood Retreat. With this phase of the series I am using tints and shades of the complementary colors without any naturals. I pin based all three of them this week and I am now ready to quilt away.

Meandering Mind Series -Annalise This is a second exploration in this series using the Orange /Blue commentary combination.

Meandering Mind Series- Explore And this is the third. I am having fun using solids in this new construction method. I also have another idea for several more exploitations along this line.

Three Witches I have started to add a branch to the background of this work while I think through how I want to complete it.

Play I was not ready to quilt on the Meandering Mind series last week so I looked again at the Paula Kovarik work from last summer. One of her challenges was to cut up an old work and reassemble it. I played at that idea for an afternoon. Great fun.

I also took four of her exercise and put them together to create some new pillows.

Poem Tree This is one of the works I started at the Fall Retreat. I was still feeling connected to the free motion work for Paula’s class and this thought came to mind. I am liking how it is coming along so far.

New Hands At both retreats I took lots of photos of people’s hands to start a new work like the Action project. It is a different type of challenge as the bigger format creates a new way of thinking. I have already learned that open hands read a lot better in black and white then closed ones.

Susan’s Doll The emphasis last month for Creative Strength Training was form so I used that idea as my push to finish off this doll that Susan started .

I am looking forward to getting back into a studio work routine that will help me move forward through the holidays.

Keep Creating,

Carol

Creative Strength Training, Curvie Cuts, Deconstruction, Idaho, Koi Joy, Maneuver Series, Sisterhood of the Scissors

Home Again

October 28, 2022 admin

Hello,

I am back in Syracuse after my wonderful adventure with Marty from Sandpoint Idaho home.

I stayed in this wonderful tower room in her son’s house and enjoyed their company before our dive began.

We drove south along the Wind River range the first day. I love how the trees are so distorted by the wind .

Then up into Tetons to look at the park. Both Jenny Lake and Jackson Lake were as smooth as glass and reflected the Mountains beautifully. I was a little distressed to see the low water level marks as global warming shows it impact on the planet.

We crossed the continental divide and stopped to enjoy the view east across the up coming great plains.

We drove across Montana and Nebraska and noted the changes in vegetation. We did see a Bald Eagle, Buffalo and lots of Prong Horn Antilope among the sage brush. Crossing Indiana, we stopped at Nappanee at a Dairy Queen for ice cream and enjoyed the sights . Inside were a group of older Amish women all dressed in blacks and browns with little white hats. The weather was so beautiful we went out side to eat on the patio were we came across some teenagers, also Amish. Three girls in pastel dresses were seated at one table and three boys in pastel shirts and brown pants at another. The women left the Dairy Queen and got into a dark car and drove away. A little later as we ate our ice cream the teens also departed. One girl got on her bike and peddled west. Then two boys got on their bikes and went east. The third boy also on a bike crossed the high way and went north. Then the last two girls got into the buggy and went east. Marty and I finished and we too got into the her car and went east. We did not see the kids again.

We notice that as we went east it seemed like there were lots of beautiful trees with lots of color in Ohio and Pennsylvania. New York also had color. But what we noticed most in New York was the large number of gray and silver cars we saw.

Progress report: Koi in the Kelp This work is 39″w X 35″ t. I enjoyed adding all the button eyes and sequins to the surface to embellish this work.

Koi Joy I started this work with a curvy cut system that I enjoy as a background.

Deconstruct ( Maneuver series)

This top is all assembled now and I am thinking about how I want to quilt it.

Maneuver Series- New

I now am deciding if I want to do blue and orange tints and shades next or red and green.

I think now I will take both sets of colors with me on the Sisterhood Retreat next week and work on them.

Book For Creative Strength Training the element is form. So in the Slow Stitch group it was suggested that we might make a book as our 3-D example. The inside pages are made with interfacing and I have mounted some of my 6″ blocks on some of the pages.